What are you listening to?

[Seán]

I love it. I have the Herreweghe/Collegium Vocale Gent recording, it makes one feel good to be alive.

Sean, it really is a delight to see you becoming enthused by Bach's choral works, as I have over the past couple of years. Fergus' deep passion for them is rubbing off on us all.

The lad is a good influence on me.

[Seán]

Fergus; I really love your enthusiasm for the Bach cantatas.

Yes indeed, Jared, I love all things Bach as you know and these works are so well crafted and accessible as I have said that they are no burden on the ear. I also like the variety in the music and the sometimes unusual mix of a particular instrument with a voice. He was such a genius I think.
After many years of listening to the music of JS Bach the best analogy that I can draw is that his music is like a quickly flowing, constantly moving, gurgling stream running downhill at a fair pace on a summer’s day. As the water dances and splashes on the rocks it reflects the sunlight that falls on it and flashes of illumination are constantly shot forth. Occasionally it encounters a pool on its journey where it becomes deep and dark and assumes a very profound nature but never brooding, only contemplative and never for long. It always emerges with a positive aspect and it is always anxious to skip along on its joyful way. The onlooker who pauses on it banks to contemplate the scene for any period of time is always the richer for the experience.
All of this can be found in the musical world of the cantatas.

Well done Fergus.

[Seán]

All this talk of Nun Komm.

Right that does it, I'm off to listen to the incomparable Freiburger Barackorchester with Collegium Vocale Gent led by Marcus Creed recorded last Christmas.

[Jared]

All this talk of Nun Komm.

Right that does it, I'm off to listen to the incomparable Freiburger Barackorchester with Collegium Vocale Gent led by Marcus Creed recorded last Christmas.

Name-dropper!


Brahms:
Symph No.2

1) Jiri Belohlavek/ BBC Symph (Live: Proms, 1998)
2) John Pritchard/ BBC Symph (Live: Proms, 1981)

[Jose Echenique]

One-to-a-part, just 14 musicians, and it sounds WONDERFUL!

I have always enjoyed my Pinnock recording of these works; he's not always to everyone's tastes, but I think his Haydn symphonies are top notch, and this recording can now be purchased for a very modest sum:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Haydn-Symphonie ... 028&sr=1-3

That said, a 6,7,8 stripped to the bones by Kuijken sounds like an interesting prospect. Is it a new recording, Pepe?

Yes it is Jared, just out in the market. I agree with you, the Pinnock is also very fine, as are the Harnoncourt and the Freiburger Barockorchester recordings of Die Tageszeiten, but La Petite Bande´s recording is also very enjoyable since it´s superbly played, you don´t miss the larger body of strings, and it has a very charming chamber music feel. Recommended.

[Jared]

^^^ Thanks, Pepe.

Brahms:
Symph No.4
Andrew Davis
BBC Symph Orchestra

A very cogent, beefy performance, recorded in Mannheim in 1996, benefitting from what sounds like very good acoustics.

Brahms:
Clarinet Quintet op.115
Karol Szymanoski Quartet
Ronald van Spaendonck (Clarinet)

Good enough, though some slightly loose phrasing occasionally.

[Seán]

Euroradio Day of Christmas Music - a concert from Freiburg in Germany
Collegium Vocale Gent and Freiburg Baroque Orchestra conducted by Marcus Creed
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata 'Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland' BWV 62
Zelenka: Missa dei filii

Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata BWV61 'Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland'
Sibylla Rubens (soprano), Sarah Connolly (mezzo), Christoph Prégardien (tenor), Peter Kooy (bass)
Collegium Vocale Gent
Philippe Herreweghe - conducting.

It is fascinating to compare and contrast these two performances of BWV 62. The earlier Herreweghe recording from 1995 is delivered at a slower tempo, it's certainly more beautiful and is delivered with greater emotional intensity whilst the Marcus Creed take is a rousing, blistering, toe tapping performance with a gorgeous sound particularly from the oboes, it's probably not as spiritual as the Herreweghe but it had me hooked after the first 4 bars. Great stuff!
Collegium Vocale Gent and Peter Kooy sing on both recordings and Herreweghe probably gets the best out of them, but I am a poor judge of these things.

[Seán]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No, 25, 28 & 31
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado - conducting.

I have decided to revisit my Mozart orchestral collection and this is gorgeous, I have had the 25th on repeat play on yesterday and today, t is my favourite recording of this work.

[Jared]

probably not as spiritual as the Hereweghe.

that appears to be a common observation with Herreweghe, in a wide variety of choral repertoire.

Brahms:
String Quartet No.2 op.51/2.
The Lindsays, (Live)
Birmingham Symphony Hall, 2003.

[DaveF]

On the TT.....